


Are You Lightning?

by Poppyseed29



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:53:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28717584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poppyseed29/pseuds/Poppyseed29
Summary: What if Barry and Iris didn't meet until university? What if David Singh had been the one who took Barry in after his mother's death? What if Harrison Wells was a college professor, with a dastardly plan to turn Barry into the Flash?
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Comments: 28
Kudos: 69





	1. Week of Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone :) I'm back with another college AU, which I hope will be a nice escape during these insane times. 
> 
> This story is still in progress, but it's been marinating for a while, so I hope that posting the first couple chapters will be good encouragement to keep writing. 
> 
> I hope you are safe and well, and continue to be so in the coming weeks and months. Take good care.

It was the first day of college. Well, technically, classes didn’t start until the following week, but it _was_ the day Barry Allen moved into residence. 

It was an emotional day. On the one hand, Barry was excited. He was about to pursue his love for physics and chemistry, meet cool, new, smart people, and leave the baggage of his past behind. On the other hand, Barry was nervous and sad. For one thing, he wasn’t very good at meeting new people. For another thing, it also marked the last day he was officially in the care of his foster father, David Singh. 

Singh was a Sergeant for the Central City Police Department and a former friend of Barry’s parents. He’d taken Barry in seven years ago, following the tragic and mysterious murder of Barry’s mother. At the time, David was still a beat cop, and Barry was just eleven years old. 

Barry’s eyewitness testimony insisted that a strange man had broken into their house that night. Still, his account seemed confused and fantastical, involving a lightning storm and a Man in Yellow. More logical was the DNA evidence that led to the incarceration of Barry’s biological father, Henry. 

Deep down, David had always known that something didn’t add up. The Allens had been his close friends. Henry would never have hurt his wife. He loved her dearly. So, the young beat cop took pity on the small boy and resolved to raise him, becoming his guardian until he turned eighteen or started post-secondary education. 

Today was that day. 

“Listen, Barry,” David said to him as they drove towards Central City University, with all of Barry’s worldly belongings in tow. “I know that legally, you’re on your own now. But I want you to know: you always have a home with me.”

Barry smiled and nodded. “I know, David. Thank you.” 

Truthfully, Barry didn’t know if he’d take David up on that offer other than for Thanksgivings and Christmases. He secretly felt he’d imposed too long on David’s life. His foster father was an ambitious man. Despite rising to Sergeant, Barry felt David might have become Lieutenant by now if it hadn’t been for him. Not to mention that Barry was sure David and his boyfriend Rob would have moved in together long ago, but David felt it was necessary to keep Barry’s home life consistent.

“I can still take you to see your Dad on Sundays,” David offered.

“I don’t mind taking the bus,” Barry replied, not wanting to be a burden. “I know you’re busy.”

“Never too busy for you, Barry,” David replied. “I mean it.”

Barry nodded. Something in his stomach wrenched, and his eyes threatened to well up. He didn’t want to cry in front of David. His foster father was a serious, no-nonsense type of man. Still, they’d grown close over the years, and Barry had opened up a soft spot in David’s heart. 

“I’m proud of you,” the older man admitted in a rare moment of forthcomingness. “And I know your Dad is, too. You’ve worked hard. College is going to open up a whole world of opportunities for you.”

Barry wiped a stray tear from his cheek before David could see. “Yeah, I’m -- I’m looking forward to it.”

“Can I give you some advice?” 

“Sure,” Barry replied automatically. 

David was always giving him advice. Most of the time, it was the usual stuff you might expect from a parent or a cop (or a cop-parent): don’t do drugs, don’t drink too much, don’t break the law. 

That’s why he was surprised when David said: “Keep an open mind and open heart, okay? You never know what great things might be headed your way.”

Barry blinked but said, “I will. You know me.”

“Yeah,” David sighed as they approached the entrance to campus. “I do.” 

The sergeant attempted to sniff away the uncharacteristic mist in his eyes. He cleared his throat then asked gruffly, “So, which way do I go?” 

“Oh,” Barry replied, flipping through the welcome booklet he’d received in the mail. “We’re -- uh --- supposed to go to the Sutton Hall parking lot, on the west side of campus. “It says: ‘Week of Welcome volunteers will be on-site to help you move in.’”

“Sutton Hall,” his foster father repeated, scanning the directional signs at the entrance to campus, then flicking on his turn signal when he spotted the arrow pointing to the left. 

They were not prepared for the mob of college students, dressed in bright, primary-colored t-shirts who swarmed the car as soon as they came to a stop. 

“Hey, bro!” One volunteer with a clipboard greeted Barry as soon as he stepped out of the car.

“Uh… hey,” Barry tentatively replied as the guy with the clipboard shook his arm vigorously.

“What’s your name, man?” Clipboard asked.

“Barry? Barry Allen.”

“Awesome! Got you right here!” Clipboard exclaimed, finding Barry’s name on his list before grabbing the whistle strapped around his neck and blowing forcefully. 

Barry stumbled backward at the pitch of the sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed David wince.

Suddenly, a swath of the brightly clothed volunteers swarmed David’s car and picked up all of Barry’s stuff. 

“Sutton 402!” Clipboard hollered above the masses.

“Sutton 402!” The masses shouted back. 

Barry and David looked on in confusion while the upper-classmen disappeared into the dormitory with Barry’s belongings.

“Follow the crowd,” Clipboard instructed, pointing after the hoard. “They’ll take you to your room.”

“Thanks,” David nodded, regaining his senses and shaking Clipboard’s hand while Barry tentatively followed. 

They entered the dorm and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. The volunteers were filing in and out of a room at the end of the hall. As Barry and David neared, Barry’s stomach twisted nervously. He was about to meet his roommate. What if they didn’t get along?

His anxieties were interrupted by the sound of Lady Gaga’s _Poker Face_ emanating through the doorway.

When all the volunteers had vacated, Barry stuck his head in to see a guy with dark shoulder-length hair, wearing a _Han Shot First_ t-shirt and taping a _Princess Bride_ poster to the wall. _Death Cannot Stop True Love_ , it read. 

“Hey!” The young man greeted with a smile. “Are you my roomie?”

“Yeah,” Barry grinned, “I guess I am.”

“I’m Cisco,” the other guy said, approaching with an outstretched hand for Barry to shake.

“Barry.” 

“As in Bartholomew?” Cisco asked, scrunching his nose. “You married to that? Or can I just call you Bear?”

Barry laughed. Even _he_ had to admit that he’d always felt like he needed to grow into his name. ‘Yeah, sure, man, whatever you like.”

“Hope you don’t mind; I picked this side,” Cisco said, waving a hand to the left side of the room. “Figured they were pretty much the same.”

It was true. The decently sized room had two twin beds on either side and two desks positioned under the windows, facing the foot of the beds. Cisco had already unpacked many engineering textbooks onto the built-in bookshelf in the wall beside his bed. 

Barry dropped his backpack onto the bare mattress of the remaining bed, then turned to David. “Well,” he said. “Guess this is it.”

“Yeah,” David replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was an unusual posture for his guardian to take. “You want me to help you unpack?”

Barry shook his head, looking around the room. If the chill and nerdy vibe he was getting from Cisco were anything to go by, everything would be alright. “Think I’ll be good,” he said.

“All right, well…” David stepped forward to wrap his arms around Barry. “Call me, okay? I want to know how everything is going.”

Barry nodded. “I will.”

“See you on Sunday?” 

“See you on Sunday.”

David nodded a curt farewell to Cisco, who saluted. 

Barry chuckled under his breath. 

“Is your dad a cop?” Cisco asked as the door to their room clicked closed.

“He’s -- uh, my guardian. But yeah. He’s a sergeant. How’d you know?”

“Definitely got a distinct law enforcement vibe,” Cisco replied with a wave of his hand in the general vicinity where Singh had stood. He turned back to the wall, breaking off a piece of sticky tack and securing it to the corner of the next movie poster he was preparing to hang.

Barry grinned and reached for his duffle bag. 

They unpacked and set up their room, listening to music, and getting to know each other. Barry learned that Cisco was majoring in mechanical engineering (hence the textbooks). Cisco learned that Barry was double majoring in physics and chemistry.

“A man after my own heart,” Cisco said wistfully, as he carefully placed a Lego X-Wing on his bookshelf. 

When Barry had put all of his clothes away in the drawers under the bed and had started to set up his laptop on his desk, someone knocked at the door. 

Cisco climbed off his bed and went to answer it. 

A blonde guy with a square jaw stood smiling at the door, wearing a hoodie with the school crest. “Hey, you guys must be Cisco and Barry?” He asked. “I’m Eddie, the Residence Advisor for this floor.”

Barry and Cisco said hi and shook Eddie’s hand in turn. 

“I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m here to help if there’s anything you need or have any questions. I also wanted to remind you that we have our first floor meeting in the common room at four o’clock. It’ll be a chance for you to meet your neighbours.”

“Cool, man, thanks!” Cisco said. 

“We’ll be there,” Barry agreed.

At five to four, the boys wandered down the hall and into the large gothic-style common room at the end. Other freshmen slowly filtered into the room. Barry and Cisco sat on a couch beside two girls who were chatting pleasantly. From the conversation, Barry gathered that they were also roommates. He couldn’t help but notice that the girl he’d chosen to sit beside was beautiful. His heart skipped a beat when she turned to him and smiled brightly. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Iris. And this is Caitlin.”

For a moment, he couldn’t seem to remember his name. What was it again? “Oh, um. Barry,” he said, smiling back and shaking her hand.

Eddie got up in front of the room, cutting short any further introductions. “All right, welcome everyone. Today we’re going to spend a little time getting to know one another and talk about life in residence. Afterward, we’ll head to the dining hall for dinner where the Chef is making pizza. Then there’s a dance in the student lounge or movie night in the reading room. Sound good?”

There was a murmur of approval before Eddie nodded and said, “All right, pair up with someone who is _not_ your roommate. We’re going to play a couple of icebreakers, starting with two truths and a lie…”

Barry looked over at Iris, hoping beyond hope that she might want to be his partner. 

She seemed to have the same idea as him because she smiled and said, “Partners?”

“Yeah,” Barry blushed.

Barry, Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin went to almost every orientation session together. An easy friendship was developing between the four of them. After spending almost every waking minute with each other for a week, they began to feel like they'd known each other for years. 

Some of their orientation sessions were mandatory (like Academic Success, Health & Safety on Campus, and the Understanding Sexual Assault session), others were purely social. Midweek, there was a “Casino Night” in the main building. Barry wore the suit that he wore to prom, while Cisco wore his t-shirt with the tux on it. 

When the boys met the girls out in the hallway, Barry gulped. Iris and Caitlin were both dressed in cute, short dresses. He couldn’t help but be distracted by Iris’ legs as they walked from the res across the quad to the main building. He mentally shook the thought out of his head as soon as it appeared. He was going to be living across the hall from her for the rest of the year. He didn't want to mess up what was beginning to feel like one of the most natural friendships he'd ever had. 

The four of them wandered through the tables, gambling away their monopoly money. Cisco lost all of his money on craps. Barry cleaned up at blackjack. 

“It’s just probability,” he shrugged while trying to hide a smug grin as Iris looked on proudly. 

He cashed in his winnings for a small teddy bear at the prize table and handed it to her. 

“What’s this for?” She asked, smiling brightly at him. 

“For being my good luck charm,” he shrugged. 

“Aww that's cute,” Cisco remarked as he approached them. “A bear from Bear.”

“Shut up,” Barry whispered under his breath to his roommate, though he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. 

All too soon, orientation week came to an end. By the following Saturday, there was only one event left: a talent show happening in the theatre. Freshmen could sign up at will to show off their talents in front of the rest of the graduation class. Barry couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing.

“Sounds kind of lame,” a pretty girl named Linda remarked at dinner beforehand.

“Yeah,” Caitlin agreed half-heartedly. “I’m not sure I really have any talents to speak of. Unless you can call reciting the periodic table by heart a talent.”

“Dude, that sounds awesome,” Cisco replied to her. “You should totally go up there and do that.”

“Well, I heard Barry singing in the shower the other day,” Linda chimed in, “And I think he should go up and sing us a song.” 

“Really?” Iris asked curiously across the table. “You sing?”

Barry blushed furiously. “Just to myself,” he murmured. 

“What were you doing creeping on my roomie in the shower?” Cisco rebuked, sensing Barry’s discomfort. 

Barry laughed.

“I wasn’t creeping,” Linda defended herself. “I just happened to be brushing my teeth when the voice of an angel drifted out of the shower stalls.”

Iris giggled happily, looking at Barry with curiosity.

“I don’t really want to sing in front of the whole school,” Barry protested.

“I know something else we could do,” Cisco piped up. 

“What’s that?” Caitlin asked curiously. 

“My cousin owns a salsa club downtown. We should go dancing.” 

“Ohh, that sounds like so much fun!” Iris gushed.

“Will there be hot salsa dancers?” Linda asked. “If so, count me in.”

“I don’t know how to salsa,” Caitlin squeaked softly.

“I’ll teach you,” Cisco promised. “All you need is a good lead. What do you think, Barry?” 

Barry was still watching Iris, whose face was lit up at the prospect of a night out on the town. You couldn’t have paid him enough money to kill her joy. Besides, he was actually a pretty good dancer. “Yeah all right,” he agreed. 

“Great!” Iris exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Pre-game in our room later? Say… at eight o’clock?”

“I’ll bring the tequila!” Cisco promised. 

Barry had never done a tequila shot before. They were sitting in a circle on the floor in Caitlin and Iris’ room. Cisco had brought his promised poison of choice, as well as a salt shaker and a Tupperware full of carefully sliced limes. He served out the tequila into five souvenir shot glasses.

“So first, you lick your hand here,” Cisco said, demonstrating by licking the skin between his thumb and forefinger. Each of them followed suit. 

“Then you sprinkle on the salt, and you lick that,” he continued, before passing the salt around. “Drink…” he flung the shot up over his mouth and downed the liquid. “Lime,” he winced through squinted eyes, just before reaching for a lime and shoving it in his mouth. 

Hesitantly, Barry threw his shot back. The tequila burned in his throat as it went down. He felt his face twist involuntarily as he fumbled for the lime. The fruit was sweet and sour relief as he bit down into the tangy flesh. “Eugh,” he moaned, while the burning in his mouth subsided. 

The girls were similarly recovering. 

“How do you drink this stuff?” Barry asked, coughing.

Cisco laughed and slapped him on the back. “You get used to it. And the best way to get used to it is to have another!” 

By the time they made it to the club, Barry felt warm and fuzzy. If the giggles coming from his newfound friends was anything to go by, so did everyone else. 

“Wait here for a sec,” Cisco said as they reached a line outside the club. He circumvented the rope and walked straight up to the bouncer, who seemed to recognize him. After props and hugs were exchanged, he beckoned his friends forward.

The bouncer waved them through, foregoing the ritual of asking for IDs and muttering, “Have a good night.” 

Barry was impressed. He’d never been to a club before. The novelty was exciting, even if it wasn’t usually his scene.

Inside, the club was small. There was a raised platform at one end, where a salsa band was squished together, playing lively music. Red and orange lights basked them in a warm glow, flickering in time with the beat. At the other end, a bar was serving specialty cocktails and more tequila. In the middle, a growing crowd danced rhythmically with the music. Girls in bright colors stepped, shimmied, and twirled their way around their partners, who directed them with ease. 

“The basics are easy,” Cisco called over the music, grabbing Caitlin’s hand and pulling her onto the dance floor to show her the steps. She tried her best to follow along, but Barry couldn’t help chuckle at her stiff and technical attempts to follow him.

Beside him, Iris swayed her hips gently back and forth, her feet sauntering on the spot as she studied the other dancers. Barry was just about to ask her to dance when Linda grabbed his hand and said, “C’mon Barry.”

He laughed and let her pull him to the floor, shrugging at Iris as he went. Iris grinned back with a thumbs up. 

He obliged Linda for a time, twirling and stepping in time to the music. They laughed together as they danced, but out of the corner of his eye, Barry couldn’t take his eyes off Iris. She was dancing on her own, smiling, laughing and clapping, cheering the others on. 

For a moment, Linda took the lead, spinning Barry around. He lost sight of Iris. When he spotted her again, a man much too old to be interesting to her had approached her and was trying to get her to dance. She was shaking her head politely and waving a hand no. “I’m here with my friends,” she was saying.

“They won’t mind,” the old man replied. “Just one dance.” He reached out to pull on her hand.

Iris rooted her feet to the ground and tried to pull her hand back. The man didn’t seem to want to let go.

Barry saw red. He dropped Linda’s hand and pushed through the crowd to Iris’ side. “Hey,” he interjected, “Is there a problem here?”

The man looked up at Barry but didn’t release his hold on Iris’ hand. She squirmed uncomfortably.

“She’s here with me,” Barry told the man assertively, wrapping his arm around her waist.

The man’s face broke into a greasy smile. “Oh of course,” he said, finally releasing her. “I knew such a pretty girl couldn’t be here alone. You shouldn’t leave such a beautiful flower without a dance partner.”

Barry’s insides twisted and his face hardened as he stepped forward, raising himself to his fullest height to stare the man down. 

The man laughed awkwardly and shuffled backward away from them into the crowd.

Barry turned back to Iris, who was still tense. She looked like she needed a hug. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her. She relaxed into his chest, smiling up at him in relief. “Thanks,” she said softly.

He nodded. “Just seemed like he wasn’t going to leave you alone,” Barry explained, releasing his hold on her, but letting his fingers linger for a moment. “Hope you don’t mind.”

Iris shook her head. “No,” she replied, trying to catch her breath. “I don’t mind.”

“You okay?” Barry asked, noticing her slight tremble. He placed his hands gently on either side of her shoulders and brushed the skin up and down like he was trying to help her get warm. 

“Yeah,” she nodded furiously, “Yeah, I’m good.” 

Barry knew better from the way she was blinking her eyes. “You want to get some air?” He asked, his head motioning to the patio door. 

“Yeah, okay,” Iris agreed with a quick smile. 

She slipped her hand in his before he led her towards the door. 

The patio was small: a couple of tables and chairs were positioned under string lights that wound back and forth through a wooden pergola. A small, secondary bar was positioned in the corner. Barry grabbed a chair and pulled it out for Iris.

"Do you want anything?" He asked her, nodding towards the bar.

"Maybe just some water," she replied.

He nodded and went to get them both some water, before returning to take a seat across from her. 

She shivered in the cool night air. Barry wished he had a jacket he could give her. 

"My dad would kill me if he knew I was here," Iris said thoughtfully, staring off into space. 

"Oh yeah?" Barry said. 

"Yeah," Iris replied. "He's a cop."

"No way," Barry replied, with a smile. "So's mine."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Well, not my dad. My — gu — my David." 

"Your David?" Iris asked curiously, rubbing her thumb along the lip of her glass of water. 

"He's my guardian," Barry said quickly. He didn't really want to get into it. It was always hard to explain to people.

Iris' eyes surveyed him carefully for a moment. "Not... David Singh?"

Barry looked up at her. "Um — yeah. How did you know?"

"My dad is Detective West. Pretty sure they work closely together. I've heard a bit about his foster son from my Dad."

"Your dad is _Detective West_?" Barry asked incredulously, sitting back in his chair. "Shit," he breathed involuntarily. 

Iris laughed. "Why is that shit?"

"N-no," Barry stammered, "I didn't mean it like that. I just -- can't believe I didn't put two and two together. Iris _West_."

She shrugged. "There are a lot of Wests out there."

Barry grunted a laugh. “I guess so.”

"How did you come to live with David?" Iris asked, expertly navigating what they both knew would be a tricky subject. 

Barry leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and looked up at her. Her eyes were open and patient. There was no judgment, just a gentle curiosity. Something welled in the pit of his stomach like the whole story might rush up and out of his mouth. A little voice inside of him was trying to convince him that Iris was someone he could tell. But another part of him didn't want her to know. To her, he was just a regular person, and he wanted it to stay that way. Besides, he'd put his trust mistakenly in people before. 

He swallowed and looked down at his shoes, shaking his head, before he pressed himself back in the chair.

"I'm sorry," Iris said softly. "I didn't mean to pry."

Barry nodded gently. "I know you didn't. What do you know?"

"Not much," she admitted. "Just that Singh has a foster son and that he's a nice kid."

The edges of Barry's mouth flitted up into a smile. "Detective West said I was a nice kid?"

"Yeah," Iris laughed. "That kind of compliment isn't easily earned."

"Oh, I'm aware," Barry laughed back. "I'm terrified of your dad."

"Most people are. Truth is, he's just a big softy." 

“There you two are!” Linda’s voice sounded behind Barry. He twisted in his chair to see Linda, Caitlin, and Cisco approach. 

Cisco carried a tray of margaritas. “Compliments of my cousin,” he said, placing the tray on the table. 

“Man, I love your cousin,” Linda commented, taking a drink from the tray as she flopped down into a chair beside them.

When their heads were swimming from the deceptively strong margaritas, Linda smacked her palms down on the tab and stood up, “All right, enough chit-chat. Did we come here to dance, or what?” 

“She’s right,” Iris smiled with a glance at Barry. “Let’s go dance.”

Barry blinked. Was she asking him to dance? He wasn’t going to let that opportunity pass. He stood, offering her a hand, which she took with a smile. They followed their friends inside and back to the dance floor. 

Barry wondered if it was just him, or if the heat had suddenly been cranked, as he held Iris’ waist in one hand and her hand in the other. The dance floor was considerably more packed now. They barely had room to maneuver, so the best that they could do was stay close as Barry led them in time with the music. His head was swimming, from the tequila and the heat and the beautiful woman in front of him. 

Sweat beaded on their foreheads while the band chirped out a sultry rhythm. Iris let go of him for a moment to lift her hair away from her neck and fan herself. “Is it just me, or is it really hot in here?” She yelled over the music. 

Barry nodded, carding a hand through his damp hair, and unbuttoning the top of his shirt, fanning the fabric against his skin. “No, it’s boiling,” he replied at an equal volume. 

Iris spun in front of him, laughing and smiling as he tried to cool down. She bumped jovially into Linda behind her, who shimmied playfully against her back. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Barry spotted one of the dancers who had been there since they’d arrived making eyes at Linda. She was making eyes right back. Keen for the excuse to bring Iris back to him, Barry stepped forward and once again offered his hand to Iris. He nodded behind Iris as the young man approached Linda. 

Iris turned around to see where Barry was motioning. When she spotted the dancer taking Linda’s hand, she turned her chin over her shoulder to say, “That’s cute! He’s cute.”

The tips of Barry’s fingers found their way to her waist again. She didn’t seem to mind, backing slowly into him in response, as they sauntered side to side. Barry’s skin burned beneath his shirt while Iris’ body grazed lazily against his. He rocked them in time with the rhythm, a hand on her stomach as their hips swayed, all pretense of following the actual salsa steps abandoned. 

She reached her hands up into her hair again, trying to cool down.

 _God_ , if she only knew what that was doing to him. 

His fingers curled into her abdomen, pulling her further back into him. She wasn’t grinding him, _per se_ , but it was hard to imagine their bodies being any closer. It was both innocent and tantalizing, chaste and sexual. Barry hung his head down to her neck as she reached a hand up around the back of his head. Her head lolled back onto his shoulder before she angled her lips to his ear and said, “You’re a good dancer.”

Barry just smiled. 

By the end of the night, the five of them waited impatiently for their Uber XL outside of the club. When a van pulled up, Barry, Iris, and Linda smushed clumsily into the back seat. Caitlin stumbled into the middle, while Cisco followed, trying to help her up. “All right, all right, easy there,” he coached. 

“I don’t usually drink this much,” Caitlin said with a hiccough. 

“Is that so?” Cisco remarked with a smirk. 

Barry didn’t mind being sandwiched beside the window and Iris, who he was learning was an affectionate drunk. She rested her head on his shoulder, under the guise of being sleepy. Barry just let her nuzzle him. 

He’d been half a heartbeat away from kissing her since she’d wrapped her hand around his neck while they were dancing. But he was trying his best not to give in to the urge. They were both drunk, and he didn’t want her to regret anything in the morning. 

Linda animatedly recounted the moves of the sexy guy she’d been dancing with, and how she managed to get his number as they sped across the city, back towards campus. 

“I want a sexy guy’s number,” Caitlin pouted, drunkenly. 

“Aw hunny bun we’ll get you one,” Cisco promised, patting her hand reassuringly.

Iris giggled against Barry’s shoulder. 

He couldn’t help it. He threaded his hand into hers. 

By the time they made it back to the residence, Cisco needed Linda’s help to carry Caitlin into the elevator. “I don’t feel so good,” Caitlin moaned between them.

“We’re almost home,” Linda replied encouragingly. 

Barry and Iris giggled at their friend, their backs resting against the sidewall of the elevator. Their hands hadn’t parted since the Uber.

When they reached the fourth floor, Caitlin stumbled forward out of the elevator and rushed off towards the bathroom. 

“We better make sure she’s okay,” Linda said to Iris.

“Yeah of course,” Iris agreed, letting her grip on Barry’s hand slide. “I should go…” she told him with a small laugh. “Hair holding duty.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, trying to hide the deflated feeling in his chest. Then again, what did he think was going to happen? They both shared rooms… and it wasn’t like they were going to make out in front of their friends. “If you need anything…” he found himself saying as she and Linda walked after her roommate. 

Iris turned and smiled. _Wow_ , what a smile. “I’ll let you know,” she said.

Barry couldn’t help but stare after her.

“Think we overdid it?” Cisco wondered beside him. 

Barry laughed. “Maybe.”

The boys turned and headed towards their room. 

“Y’know,” Cisco began, “We should probably work out some sort of system.”

“For what?” Barry asked.

“For when you and Iris are hooking up so that I don’t accidentally walk in on you,” Cisco replied as he keyed into their room.

“Wha—? Pfff… We’re not —” Barry protested as he followed Cisco inside.

“Yuh-huh. Right. Okay, Mr. MakeLoveToMyNeighborOnTheDanceFloor. Just put a sock on the doorknob when it happens, all right?”

“I wasn’t —”

But then Cisco was already passed out on his bed, and Barry found the only person left to convince was himself. 

  
  



	2. Hangovers and Internships

Barry dreamed that the fire alarm was going off. For some reason, he was the only one who could put out the blaze. But  _ how? _

_ Move your arms counter-clockwise as fast as you can,  _ a voice said in his ear.

His heart was pounding. He wasn’t sure he could do it. The alarm wouldn’t stop; it just kept ringing in his ears, and ringing and ringing and ringing…

Barry’s eyes flicked open, and he lifted his head, but not before Cisco groaned and threw a pillow across the room at him.

“Uhhhhhh, make it stop,” his roommate complained.    
  
“Sorry, sorry,” Barry apologized, stumbling out of bed and searching for his ringing phone. The world spun around him as he answered, lifting it to his ear. 

“Bear, where are you?” David’s voice came through the other end. 

“Shit,” Barry exhaled. 

David was here to pick him up and take him to see his Dad. 

“I — uh — sorry,” Barry stuttered. “I slept in. I’ll be right down.” He stumbled around the room, rushing to get dressed, tripping as he tried to put his jeans on and reach for his wallet at the same time. 

“You look like you got hit by a truck, son,” his father told him, with a bemused look as they sat across from one another in the visitation booth.

Barry adjusted the receiver at his ear with one hand and threaded his fingers through his hair.

“Rough night?” Henry asked, suppressing a smile.

“Uhh, no,” Barry replied, smiling sheepishly. “It was actually pretty great.”

“First week of college, huh slugger?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So, what did you get up to?”

Barry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. What would his dad say if he knew he’d snuck into a bar underage?

“C’mon slugger,” his father urged. “I don’t get much entertainment around here. It’s nice to know you’re living your life.”

Barry felt the tips of his ears go pink. “My roommate, Cisco, and I went out dancing with some girls from our floor.”

“Is that right?” Henry chuckled into the receiver.

“Yeah,” Barry laughed back. He fiddled with the cord on the receiver, not meeting his father’s eyes. “There’s this one girl…” 

He didn’t know why he was telling his dad this. He’d barely just met Iris, but already he felt like his heart was so full of affection for her that he might burst. He had to tell  _ someone _ .

“Oh?” This news piqued Henry’s interest. “Tell me about her.”

“Her name’s Iris…”

By the time Barry got back to the dorm, his head was pounding.

“Make sure you drink lots of fluids,” David counseled as he dropped him off. 

Barry nodded, trying to quell the queasy feeling in his stomach. “Thanks for the ride.”

He managed to slink into the elevator and find his way back to his room. Cisco was nowhere to be found. Barry was quietly thankful since it meant he could chug some water and slide back into bed without being conspicuous. 

He drifted off to sleep, only to be woken sometime later by a knock at the door. He rolled out of bed and cracked the door open, head still pounding and half-conscious. He was surprised to find Iris was standing on the other side, smiling brightly with a bottle of Gatorade in her hand. 

“Hey,” he said, swinging the door wide open. He awkwardly tried to straighten out his shirt and fix his unruly hair.

“Hey,” she replied.

“What’s up?”

“I, um. I got some Gatorade for Caitlin, but they only came in a six-pack… so… I thought I’d see if you wanted one?” She reached out to hand it to him.

“Oh my God,” he sighed, taking it gratefully. “You’re a lifesaver.”

She giggled and walked past him into the room, taking a seat on the foot of his unmade bed. For some reason, the sight made Barry’s stomach do a backflip that had nothing to do with his hangover.

“How are you feeling?” She asked him.

He took a swig of the Gatorade, then sat at the head of the bed. “If I’m being honest,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Not so hot.”

Iris laughed. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling so great this morning either.”

“Really? You’d never know it.” The truth was, she looked amazing.

She smiled bashfully and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Well,” she laughed. “A shower and some make-up can do wonders.”

“I should try that,” he chuckled as he took another sip of the energy drink.

“It was worth it, though,” she said. “I had fun.”

“Yeah,” Barry replied, tracing the lip of the bottle with his thumb. “Me too.”

She beamed sideways at him. “Sorry if I…”

He watched her with curiosity as she tried to find the words.

“...Got a bit handsy,” she laughed.

“Oh,” Barry shrugged, his eyelashes fluttering as he made a lighthearted sound. “It’s all good.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I didn’t want things to be weird —”

“No — yeah, of course.”

“— What with us living across the hall from each other and everything.”

“Definitely. I mean, definitely no weirdness.”

“Okay,” she sighed again. “Okay, good.”

“Yeah. How are you doing? Are you okay after that guy —”

“Oh!” Iris chuffed indifferently. “Oh, that. Yeah, I’m fine. That happens… all the time.”

“It does?” Something about this information broke Barry’s heart. 

“Yeah, I mean… most girls have tons of stories like that.”

Barry hummed a sad acknowledgment in his throat. 

“Thanks for…” she trailed off.

“Yeah, no problem. Anytime.”

She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear again. “Okay, well… I just wanted to see how you were feeling.”

“I’m better now,” he found himself saying as he looked at her. “After the Gatorade,” he added when she looked at him quizzically. “Thanks for bringing it by.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Well… I guess I’d better go. Got to get ready for the first week of class.

“Yeah, I should do that, too,” he said thoughtfully.

“Okay, well… see you later?”

“Absolutely.”

He stared at the door for an untold amount of time after it closed behind her. 

His daydreams were interrupted by the sound of an alert on his phone. He dug into his pocket for the device and checked the screen. 

**_News Alert — Central City Correspondent:_ ** _ Unexplained light phenomenon observed at Stagg Industries _ .

Barry opened the article, his eyes fervently scanning across the screen as his heart pounded.  _ Another one,  _ he thought. 

His hands trembled to send the article to his printer. He waited impatiently at the tray for the job to finish, then snatched the paper away as soon as the machine released it. The drawers on his desk rumbled as he pulled them open, searching in quick succession for a pair of scissors and a glue stick. 

When he found them, he went to his bed and parted the textbooks he’d placed neatly on the shelves earlier in the week. From behind, he pulled out a ratty scrapbook stuffed with articles of the weird and wondrous. He flipped it open to a blank page near the back, then began cutting the freshly printed page from its margins. 

Carefully, he folded it into quarters, applying the glue to one side and adhering the article into the scrapbook. He pressed the pages together with a firm palm, closing his eyes as he willed his heart to slow. 

He knew he was right. He knew that one day he’d be able to prove it. He just had to keep gathering the evidence. For now, he couldn’t let himself get his hopes up. 

It was amazing how quickly the first few weeks of classes flew by. The Fantastic Four (as Cisco had taken to calling them, “But like, the comics not the movies… cause the movies sucked”) ate their meals together, spent their free time together, and even took to studying together in the evenings.

Barry appreciated the company but found himself distracted during study sessions. Especially when Iris splayed herself across his bed, lying on her stomach while reading her political science textbook. One of these days, he was going to have to turn his desk so that he couldn’t see her rub her toes together while she was taking notes. 

He really needed to focus. In this regard, Caitlin’s influence was helpful. Barry was learning that Iris’s roommate was very particular. Whenever they got off track, she’d pull out the timer on her phone and force them to follow the Pomodoro technique. 

“I need to be in the top two percent of the class,” Caitlin told them as she tried to get them to refocus.    
  
“Easy there, miss Achievable Goals,” Cisco replied casually. “Why so hard on yourself?”

“I’m not hard on myself,” Caitlin insisted. “It’s just what’s required if I want to get the Wells Internship.”

“Like, Harrison Wells?” Barry asked, his interest piqued. 

“Yes, Professor Harrison Wells.”

“He has an internship?” Cisco’s face screwed up in thought. “How come I haven’t heard of this?”   
  
“Who is Harrison Wells?” Iris asked, watching the conversation. 

Cisco laughed. 

Caitlin’s mouth fell open. 

Barry beamed. “ _ The _ Harrison Wells is one of the most brilliant minds of our time,” he answered quickly. “His work on quantum theory is  _ lightyears _ ahead of anything they’re doing at CERN.”

“What kind of stuff is he working on?” Iris asked curiously.

“He wants to build a particle accelerator,” Caitlin explained. “And he’s going to need scientists of all kinds to help him do it. He announced that he’s hiring a bunch of undergrads to intern with him, with the promise of a job after school.”

“Sooo…” Cisco thought aloud as he began counting on his fingers. “He’s going to need mechanical engineers to build the facility.”

Caitlin gave Cisco a look that said,  _ Yes, absolutely he is. _

“And even physicists and chemists,” Cisco raised another finger and looked pointedly at Barry. 

Barry’s eyes lit up. The chance to work with Harrison Wells would be a dream come true. “How many people is he hiring?” Barry asked excitedly.

“Five to ten people,” Caitlin answered. “Which equates to two percent of our graduating class. So, I figure, if I get into the top two percent of marks, it’s my best chance.” 

“If he’s hiring that many,” Iris chipped in, “you can all apply!”

And that was how Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry made a pact to work as hard as they could to land the Wells Internship together.

Iris’ interests lay elsewhere. “I want to be a reporter,” she confessed to Barry one evening, while he sat on her bed and sipped from his Jitters cup. It was their routine to swing by the campus café after dinner and grab some coffee before their evening study sessions. 

It was just the two of them tonight. Caitlin was at her Bio-Engineering class while Cisco was out watching  _ Ghost World _ with the Criterion Club.

“That’s great, Iris,” Barry smiled. 

“Yeah, I think so, too,” she beamed. “I signed up for the school paper. The  _ CCU Herald _ ? If I want to apply to journalism school after my undergrad, I need to have some experience.”

“Makes sense,” he answered.

Iris nodded, then turned back to her computer with a sigh. “The only problem is that Freshmen get stuck with boring assignments.”

“So what did you get stuck with?” he asked with a smirk. 

“500 words on how the cafeteria is introducing composting to its garbage and recycling program,” she replied. “I have no idea how I am going to write 500 words about this.”

“It’s a good initiative,” Barry commented, “Why don’t you broaden it? Talk about the environmental benefits, like the reduction of methane emissions in landfills?”

Iris tilted her head thoughtfully. “Tie it to the wider issues,” she summarized. “Barry, that’s brilliant!” She shot him a bright smile that left his heart thrumming and a dopey smile on his face. 

He turned back to his equations while Iris focused on writing her article. A comfortable silence fell between them, and Barry silently thought to himself that this was his favorite way to study.


End file.
